Category Archives: Censorship

Making baseless attacks and ranting do not help our cause. What the government fears and is trying to suppress are intelligent socio-political critiques that provoke readers to think, and alternative perspectives that enlighten the general populace.

Singapore Armchair Critic,The Online Citizen

It seems that Internet censorship in Singapore (described by the government as a light-touch regulatory framework) mostly depends on a combination of access controls (such as requiring political websites to register for a license) and legal pressures (such as defamation lawsuits and the threat of imprisonment). The intention is to prevent people from posting objectionable content (source, p. 81).

Singapores prominent bloggers and alternative news websites have concertedly launched apetitionto urge the Media Development Authority (MDA) to rescind thelicensing requirementfor online news sites; aprotestis also slated to take place this Saturday, 8 June atHong Lim Park.

Bloggers and activists have explainedwhy we should all careabout this new ruling which has taken effect from 1 June 2013, barely a few days after it wasannouncedto the public.

However, if we go by past experience, I daresay the likelihood of our government revoking this new licensing framework is close to nil.

Just look at its response to the opposition to the controversialPopulation White Paper.

Despite thestrong backlashfrom the society and reservations expressed bypeoplein the PAP camp, our leaders did not succumb to public pressure. There was only a symbolic concession in re-pitching the 6.9 million population target as but a worst case scenario, after which paper was bulldozed ahead in the PAP-dominant parliament, resoundingly endorsed byall except 13.

So in all likelihood that the government will not backpedal on the new ruling, what else can we do besides petitioning and protesting?

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Fight Internet Censorship, Free Your Mind

Both services have reportedly been blocked by the government, says the Guardian, forcing people to access them through VPN software.

Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Twitter page.

Many Turkish Internet users are staying connected to Facebook and Twitter despite reported government censorship of the two sites.

To get past the blockade of the two popular social networks, Turkish citizens have been using VPN software such as Hotspot Shield, which opens a tunnel through the Internet so the connection can't be detected. This past weekend, more than 120,000 people in Turkey downloaded the software, according to the Guardian, a huge leap from the 10,000 new users seen on an average day.

On Saturday, blog site TechCrunch said a number of sources told it that both Facebook and Twitter have been impossible to access from inside Instanbul and other areas of Turkey.

Protests against Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan over restrictions on alcohol and other issues have triggered clashes with police, leading to injuries among many of the protesters and at least one death. Following reports that news organizations aren't fully covering the news, citizens in Turkey have been relying on social networks to send and receive information.

But Erdogan has actually blamed Twitter for fueling the protests, telling news site France 24 that "there is now a menace which is called Twitter. The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society.''

The level of the censorship against Facebook and Twitter is a bit of a question, however.

On Saturday, Internet monitoring company Renesys said it found no evidence that Turkey's Internet access was being blocked. The company added that it could not rule out the possibility of slowdowns, but said that might be due to increased traffic.

"It may be the case that some local Internet users are experiencing delays on oversubscribed DSL lines or mobile Internet connections," Renesys said in its Saturday blog.

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Turkish users sneak past censorship of Facebook, Twitter

BEIJING, June 4 (UPI) -- Chinese activists say they will mark the 24th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre despite government censorship of any mention of the event.

Many are posting photos of candles online, while others are wearing black T-shirts, Voice of America reported. Tuesday.

Police began standing guard to ward off protests at the square on Friday where Chinese troops had crushed a student-led demonstration. Estimates of the number killed have ranged from several hundred to several thousand, but the government has never commented on the number of protesters who died.

Any mention of the event is blocked on the Internet and social media. A candle icon that served as a digital vigil was removed from Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. In response, citizens posted photos of candles.

In Hong Kong, where residents enjoy greater freedom, more than 100,000 people were expected to attend a candlelight vigil.

Hu Jia, an AIDS activist and political dissident in Beijing, urged people attending the vigil to wear black, The Wall Street Journal reported on its blog.

He joked that buying black T-shirts in China might soon require identification.

Government censorship of the Internet and social media has made commenting directly on the anniversary difficult. Some Sina Weibo users instead noted the arrival of dark clouds in Beijing around midday Tuesday.

"Heaven sees what the people see, Heaven hears what the people hear. Today, Heaven's heart feels what's in the people's hearts," wrote historian Zhang Lifan, quoting Confucius.

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Despite censorship, Chinese find ways to mark Tiananmen anniversary

By Joseph Mtingwi, Nyasa Times

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Malawi Censorship Board has said it does not censor material on the internet because it is not mandated to do so adding that the Board regulates films, public entertainment and publications; and does not include regulating internet content.

This was disclosed by Deputy Director of Culture, Chrissy Chiumia in an interview with Nyasa Times.

The mandate of the Board is to regulate films, public entertainment and publications; and does not include regulating internet content.

Regulating content on the internet is more than censorship. The issue requires separate legal framework and of course the direct involvement of the internet service providers, explained Chiumia.

She further said as a board they cannot just jump into matters that are not clearly provided by the law.

The challenge is that sensitive material is left uncensored, and our calling is to operate within the mandate of the Censorship Act, she said.

She also explained that consultations on the review of the Censorship act reflected on this issue but the consensus was that regulating content on the internet would better be under the Communications Act.

It is from that background that the issue has evolved to the E Legislation Bill which, among other important matters, seeks to regulate content on the internet, she elaborated.

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Malawi Censorship Board says not regulating material on internet

President Michael D Higgins: Even in those parts of the world where citizens are no longer misinformed by an ideological state media control, the risk of censorship can still present itself in the form of monopolies and oligarchy. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons

President Michael D Higgins has warned the International Federation of Journalists world congress meeting in Dublin that the risk of censorship can present itself in the form of monopolies and oligarchy.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the conference that continues until Friday, Mr Higgins said the threat to impartial and free journalism could flow from within the media sector as well as from without. It can flow from the concentration of power of owners, cross-ownership, advertisers pressure or even from the reticence of journalists to challenge received wisdom, he said.

Mr Higgins said the media landscape had changed considerably in recent decades and journalism would be practised in changed circumstances in future, thanks to the concentration of ownership, the fragmentation of audiences and the convergence of technologies.

Monopoly and oligarchy Even in those parts of the world where citizens are no longer misinformed by an ideological state media control, the risk of censorship can still present itself in the form of monopolies and oligarchy.

A mass media characterised by the rise of large transnational media players brought new challenges for journalists, the President said. A less diverse media would be less willing to challenge received wisdom or the interests of those in power.

Journalists attempting to investigate and provide information on political and corporate corruption can often be hindered and intimidated by those with vested interests.

Mr Higgins said the principles of diversity and pluralism must be protected to promote a free flow of ideas and information and strengthen the exercise of freedom of expression around the world.

He said mass media appeared to be converging on a set of online technologies to deliver content. He said this had some very profound opportunities for journalism, because it opened up a potentially global audience by rendering national borders redundant.

The possibilities for citizen journalists, civic groups and dispossessed people to take control of their own narratives were also immense, he said. However, he said the consequences must not be ignored.

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Censorship has many forms, President tells journalists’ congress

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By: Melton Brady

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GED5 22 2013 BUGS OF RELIGIOUS CENSORSHIP INTENTIONAL AS NOT REACHING 424 229 0911 LAURIE 93CH - Video

Did Public Television Commit Self-Censorship to Appease Billionaire Funder David Koch? (2 of 2)
http://www.democracynow.org - Filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal say plans for their new documentary to air on public television have been quashed after billionaire Republican David Koch complaine...

By: democracynow

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Did Public Television Commit Self-Censorship to Appease Billionaire Funder David Koch? (2 of 2) - Video

topless beach censorship tue 2 april 2013 George Godley Tenerife Canary islands Spain 00367
http://georgegodley.com/ http://www.youtube.com/geogodley https://twitter.com/geogodley https://www.facebook.com/pages/GeoGodley/213431738712281.

By: georgegodley

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topless beach censorship tue 2 april 2013 George Godley Tenerife Canary islands Spain 00367 - Video

George Orwells depiction of dystopia in his classic 1984, a society devoid of privacy, may have seemed like an exaggeration in 1949. But, with technology intruding deep into our lives today, we may actually be heading into a less obvious version of a similar state.

Jacob Appelbaum, prolific hacker and a close associate of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, portrayed a grim picture of the future of the Internet when he was in Bangalore this week. He and the group of international hackers he is part of, Cypherpunks, propagate the idea of using cryptography on the Internet to counter surveillance and censorship on the Internet.

Traffic analysis

Censorship is the byproduct of surveillance, wrote Mr. Appelbaum in the book Cypherpunks: Freedom and Future of the Internet, which he has co-authored with Mr. Assange. For mass surveillance of the Internet, the first prerequisite is traffic analysis, a systematic logging of user activity and building profiles of users.

Features such as targeted advertisements are apparently more benign manifestations of traffic analysis.

Gmail and Facebook, for instance, analyse user traffic and activity, and deliver targeted ads, which is a boon to commerce on the Internet. But, the method adopted raise concerns about privacy, and in many cases can be considered an intrusion. For instance, when Google displays ads about pizza parlours after you have read a mail from a friend mentioning the word pizza, it does make one think as to what else Google might know about users.

Google and Facebook are able to identify and profile users because he or she is logged into their services, and have voluntarily identified themselves and have signed away the rights. This makes it easy for these Internet giants to log user activity, attribute it to the users, run social graph programs and build a comprehensive profile of users. While Google and Facebook require users to be logged into their service to profile them, it is possible to monitor users simply by analysing the traffic emanating from their Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. This is commonly known as traffic analysis and is the first prerequisite for surveillance.

IP addresses are numbers which can be attributed to people using the Internet; think of IP addresses in the Internet as vehicle registration numbers in the real world. When the IP addresses are monitored for activity, they reveal information about users. Concealing IP addresses is thus the first level of anonymity for users.

Data retention

Browsing the Web without the necessary precautions such as using unencrypted browsing, is akin to sending a postcard by mail instead of using envelopes. The data on unencrypted links can be seen transparently while they are being travelling from source to destination, with very little technical effort.

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Cryptography as a means to counter Internet censorship

Thai filmmakers speak out against censorship
There was public outcry in Thailand when a politically sensitive documentary was banned by the government. The movie, "Boundary", tackles the deep political ...

By: AlJazeeraEnglish

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Thai filmmakers speak out against censorship - Video